udio Research introduced the one-box Reference Phono in 2000, and the company's top one-box phono stage has looked and felt much the same ever since. A vacuum-fluorescent display and an acrylic top plate were added in 2009, with the Reference Phono 2. In 2016, for the Reference Phono 3, the square black switches were replaced with flush-mounted, anodized buttons, and an acrylic bottom plate replaced the metal one. Along the way, the audio-stage tube complement increased from four to six tubes. Every step has also been marked by component upgrades for the updated version. Yet, at each point along the way, the Reference Phono has born the mark of Audio Research styling and displayed the hallmarks of its sound.
Audio Research has updated again, bringing the Reference Phono 3 to SE status. As with the update to the Reference 6 SE preamplifier, which I wrote about earlier this year, the circuitry remains the same, but the sound has become much more refined. The physical changes to the new phono stage mirror the upgrades made in the Reference 6 SE, consisting of improved wiring and capacitors and a heavier-duty acrylic top plate. As with the preamplifier, the upgrades were derived from improvements in Audio Research’s Reference 160 amplifiers. The new Reference Phono 3 SE now costs $17,000, an increase of $3000 over a Reference Phono 3. Once again, owners of the original unit can send it back to the factory to upgrade to the SE version for that $3000 difference in price. Why bother with phono playback in today’s ever-changing world of streaming digital music? You do not need to be Philip Marlowe to recognize that too many otherwise right-thinking people have fallen for the convenience of digitized music, convincing themselves along the way that it sounds as good or better than unsullied analog signals. However, no one who has spent any time listening to records played through a Reference Phono (of any generation) could be convinced that, despite all its improvements over the years, digital music has equaled or surpassed the sound of vinyl. Granted, the sound of the silver disc has improved by leaps and bounds during this century, but that improvement has barely closed the gap on old-fashioned analog sound. The four steps from the original Reference Phono to the Reference Phono 3 SE have more than maintained the advantage of black disc over silver (or streaming). The Reference Phono 3 SE uses no step-up transformers to provide gain. There are two settings: low gain is 45 or 51dB (depending on the choice of balanced or single-ended outputs), with high gain providing 67 or 73dB. The unit offers six preset load impedances, to match your cartridge to the input stage (47k, 1000, 500, 200, 100 and 50 ohms) as well as the option to request a custom load when ordering the unit. For those not afraid to experiment with selectable equalization, there are Columbia and Decca replay curves in addition to the standard RIAA. As with all Reference Phonos before it, the Reference 3 SE's voltage supplies are electronically regulated, and the unit requires a 20-amp power cord, a standard type being supplied. The chassis is 19" wide, stands 7 3/4" high in its bare feet, and is 16 1/2" deep. Two sets of single-ended inputs allow for simultaneous connection of two turntables, along with single sets of single-ended and balanced outputs.
I completed my Audio Research Reference 6 SE review before the upgraded phono stage arrived. Given the physical and material similarities in the upgrades performed on both units, I expected a similar (or even greater) sonic improvement from the phono stage, and I wasn’t disappointed. Like the Reference 6 SE, the Reference Phono 3 SE modifications achieve a significant step up in transient speed. I have listened to Michael Praetorius’s Dances From Terpsichore [Archiv Production 198166] on every phono stage (separate or integrated) that I have ever owned. It is a serious challenge to reproduce properly -- an early-music ensemble with four types of recorders, viola da gamba, percussion, organ and harpsichord. The high pitch of the recorders can be an absolute beast to record, let alone replay. Get it wrong and the results are a shrill and poorly differentiated sound in which the instruments clash and merge, the archetypical "early-music sound" that has turned off more listeners than it has attracted. With the Reference Phono 3 SE, I can for the first time separate out the piccolo from the soprano, alto and tenor recorders -- or at least I fancy that I can. Another longtime favorite is Stravinsky’s Symphony In 3 Movements, conducted by the composer [Columbia MS 6331]. It’s a disc that I’ve been using to test my neighbor’s tolerance for shared-wall vibrations since long before Stravinsky passed away in 1971. As the years passed and phono stages became more sophisticated, the cacophonous mess of sound produced by the makeshift Hollywood/Columbia Symphony Orchestra began to make more sense. Finally, with the improved transient speed and clarity of the 3 SE, the true nature of this performance emerges. The CSO’s lack of precision is heard for what it is, instead of coming off as a poor and muddled recording. Often dubbed “The War Symphony,” the sonic turbulence here is revealed as the result of both the composition and the orchestra’s unruly combination of enthusiasm mixed with a lack of ensemble precision. The Reference Phono 3 SE manages to separate those strands and influences more clearly, making this disc more listenable than I have ever experienced before. Perhaps the most striking example of the revised phono stage’s superior transient speed was "Andy Warhol" from Bowie’s Hunky Dory [UK RCA Victor SF 8244]. I know it’s an audio reviewing cliché, but listening through the 3 SE was almost like hearing this track for the very first time. The repeated Mick Ronson guitar riffs, the hand claps, percussion effects, electronic effects and studio noise on an early UK pressing of this classic were a stunning display not only of Bowie’s vision but also of recording engineer Ken Scott’s success in capturing the whirlwind of separate sounds, changing time signatures, dramatic dynamic swings and interesting acoustics. Properly reproduced, this is four of my most exciting minutes in recorded sound. With anything but the finest cartridge and phono-stage combinations, much of that excitement pales and is diluted. The Lyra Atlas Lambda in combination with the 3 SE snaps this musical maelstrom into focus as never before. Similarly, the Ref Phono 3 SE has greater resolution than its predecessor. Carlos Kleiber’s performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony [Orfeo S 700 143P] differs from the Deutsche Grammophon version in that it was recorded live at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. I have visited the opera house on quite a few occasions during the High-End show, and I've listened to the recording countless times, first on the 2005 hybrid SACD and then on the 2014 LP release. The LP through the Reference Phono 3 SE caused a double-take, such was the increase in resolution and detail. The spatial cues defining the hall snapped into focus. Suddenly I was no longer hearing an anonymous live venue, but the familiar space recognizable as the opera house in Munich. Similarly, on Schubert’s Symphony in C major, conducted by Claudio Abbado [Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft 479 5087], the Reference Phono 3 SE resolves the differences between specific instruments within sections of the orchestra better than its predecessor. Instead of hearing the brass section en masse, the horns were not just easily but naturally separated from the trombones and trumpets, those also just as distinct. The pre-upgrade Reference Phono 3 separated the instruments, but the SE upgrades bring an effortless clarity that makes the listening experience more relaxed and enjoyable. If there is one area where the upgraded phono stage shines, however, it is in the tonal accuracy -- or purity -- of the sound. It was here that Audio Research, and other tubed equipment manufacturers, built and maintained their reputation for sonic superiority over early and all but the best of today’s solid-state equipment. The purity and beauty of Audio Research’s midrange transparency have increasingly become their hallmark, expanding beyond the midband to include the full frequency range. It’s a classic case of the whole depending on the sum of the parts, the greater resolution and transient speed certainly contributing to the clarity and a tonal palette that sounds the way God (and a multitude of talented musicians) intended.
For me, that step up in musical performance, the increased ability to convince, is encapsulated in Charles Lloyd & The Marvels’ Tone Poem [Blue Note B003313501]. I have heard each of the five musicians on this double LP set perform live, many times (although not yet all at the same time). I know how they play and what they sound like. Mostly recorded by Michael Ross at East West Studios in Los Angeles, supervised by Tone Poet Joe Harley, this recording sounds fabulous. Listening to it first with the Reference Phono 3, and then with the 3 SE, the rightness of the upgraded phono stage was immediately apparent, taking me right back to the last time I heard Lloyd live, sitting in the first row, a few feet from him at the San Francisco Jazz Center. That’s the very essence of high-end audio. It’s also the essence of what separates a great phono stage, and what it delivers, from so much digital music today. That thrill is special -- and it’s what makes great analog reproduction so special. As the adage goes, it sounds more like real musicians, there in your listening room. The SE upgrades to the Reference Phono 3 underline both the truth of that statement and the excitement of the experience. By all appearances, the Reference Phono 3 SE looks just
the same as the previous version. But don’t let that fool you. The improved focus,
speed, resolution, and dynamic scaling all reflect an entirely new and improved level of
performance, establishing this as not just a new reference phono stage, but a new
benchmark for Audio Research. |
